The fact that your engine is dry probably means that you have ruined your heads. Either a seal is blown or a lifter is broken or any number of little parts have failed due to lack of lubrication. If that is the case, replacing a head is A LOT less expensive than replacing the whole engine. The question is whether it is worth it to find out given the cars age.

You could try doing a compression test on the cylinders. That would tell you if you have failure somewhere in the cylinders/heads. Not sure what the best way is to test the bottom end of the engine though.